Fiscal Deficit at 114.8% of Annual Target at September-end

As per the CGA data, the total expenditure incurred by the government was Rs 14,79,410 crore (48.63 per cent of BE 2020-21), out of which Rs 13,13,574 crore was on revenue account and Rs 1,65,836 crore on capital account. Out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 3,05,652 crore was on account of interest payments and Rs 1,56,210 crore towards major subsidies. During the same period of the last fiscal, the total expenditure was 53.4 per cent of the annual target.

The government had pegged the fiscal deficit for 2020-21 at Rs 7.96 lakh crore or 3.5 per cent of the GDP in the Budget, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in February.These figures, however, may have to be revised significantly, in view of the economic disruptions created by the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Fiscal deficit had soared to a seven-year high of 4.6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019-20, mainly on account of poor revenue realisation, which dipped further towards the close of March because of the lockdown.